Yonhap News Agency most trusted among journalists for 2nd year: survey

SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's key wire service Yonhap News Agency has been named the most trusted media outlet among domestic journalists for a second straight year, a survey showed Wednesday.

In the poll of 1,625 reporters conducted from July 21-29 by the Journalists Association of Korea, an industry association, Yonhap drew 16.3 percent of votes when respondents were asked to name the most trusted outlet excluding their own employer, followed by the Chosun Ilbo daily at 10.9 percent.

Yonhap's share fell 1.4 percentage points from 17.7 percent a year earlier, while Chosun's rose 2.8 percentage points, marking its first double-digit result in six years.

Public broadcaster KBS came in third, continuing a sharp rebound by climbing to 9.3 percent from 6.6 percent last year and 2.4 percent in 2024, while its rival MBC slipped for a second year to 7 percent from 14.8 percent in 2024.

The Hankook Ilbo newspaper, commercial broadcaster SBS and the Kyunghyang Shinmun daily tied for fifth place at 5.5 percent, followed by the Hankyoreh newspaper at 5.1 percent. The Dong-A Ilbo daily re-entered the top 10 after two years, ranking ninth with 3.2 percent this year, while cable TV channel JTBC remained unchanged at 2.8 percent rounding out the top 10 list. The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper fell to 2.3 percent from 6.1 percent and exited the top 10.

The share of respondents saying they had no trusted outlet or did not know rose to 11.9 percent from 9.2 percent last year, the second-highest response after Yonhap. The results underscore the absence of a dominant consensus pick among reporters: even the top-ranked outlet has remained in the 10 percent range since the annual survey began in 2019.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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